Boundary Park
Encyclopedia
Boundary Park is the main sports stadium
of Oldham
, in Greater Manchester
, England. It lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with the towns of Royton
and Chadderton
lying immediately north and west respectively, giving rise to the name Boundary Park.
Boundary Park was originally known as Athletic Ground when it was opened in 1896 for Oldham's first professional association football club, Oldham County F.C.. When County folded in 1899, Pine Villa F.C. took over the ground and changed their name to Oldham Athletic. Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
have played their home games here since the stadium was opened. Oldham RLFC
left their traditional home, Watersheddings
, in 1997 and moved to Boundary Park. Apart from the 2002 season when they played at Hurst Cross in Ashton-under-Lyne
, they played there until 2009, when the football club no longer wanted them as tenants.
- the season after Oldham Athletic's relegation from the top flight
of English football. In the early days, the stadium could hold nearly 50,000 people. The highest crowd ever recorded at Boundary Park is 47,671, for an FA Cup
tie between Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday
in 1930.
. In 1987, the club reached the play-offs and in 1989/90 the club went through what is regarded as the club's greatest-ever season, reaching the League Cup Final and the semi-final of the FA Cup, and the club claimed major upsets against the likes of Arsenal
, Southampton
, Everton
and Aston Villa. Critics felt that the pitch gave the club an advantage, but in 1991 Royle responded to this when the Portsmouth manager declared that Oldham couldn't play away, he stuck the article to the dressing room door and the team responded with a 4-1 victory. At the end of the 1990/91 season the club secured promotion to the top flight, the final match on the plastic pitch was probably one of the most memorable games played at the ground when Latics, in order to win the old second division, had to beat Sheffield Wednesday and rely on West Ham
losing. 60 minutes into the game, Wednesday were 2-0 up, but Ian Marshall
pulled a goal back, then Paul Bernard
equalised. By this point, West Ham were losing. In time added on, Andy Barlow went down in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. Neil Redfearn
stepped up to convert it and a mass pitch invasion followed, as it had been confirmed that West Ham had lost 2-1 to Notts County.
With promotion to the top flight, Oldham Athletic were then forced to have the plastic pitch removed because of league rules. They stayed in the top league for 3 seasons ( 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993-4) before being relegated, and after 3 seasons in the second tier were relegated again in 1997. They have been in the third division, now called League One, ever since.
known as being the coldest ground in the Football League, earning the nickname coined by Joe Royle, Ice Station Zebra. It is also the third-highest stadium, at 155 metres above sea level, of any Premier League or Football League club after The Hawthorns
, home of West Bromwich Albion
, 168 metres, and Vale Park
, home of Port Vale F.C.
, 160 metres.
There were plans in the late 1990s for a move to a new stadium on adjoining waste ground, but these were scrapped.
On 15 February 2006, the club unveiled plans for the redevelopment of their current ground. The plans would see every stand other than the Rochdale Road end being redeveloped. When completed it would be a 16,000 seater stadium, estimated to cost £80 million, and with a working name of the "Oldham Arena". However, by the time of the completion of the redevelopment, the stadium would likely have borne a sponsor's name.
On 14 November 2007, Oldham Athletic received planning permission
for the Broadway stand, whilst Oldham Borough Council
rejected the further development of the stadium due to local objections regarding the height and size of a proposed block of apartments. On 12 December 2007, after amending the plans, another council meeting gave permission for redevelopment. Facilities would include conferencing and a hotel plus the option of a casino.
Demolition of the Broadway Stand started on 8 May 2008, with the work completed before the start of the new season. The building of the new 'Main Stand' was due to commence in December 2008 and was expected to take 16 months.
On 5 September 2008, Simon Blitz
told podcast World Soccer Daily
that although Oldham still planned to continue the development of Boundary Park and surrounding areas, the plans were on hold for now because of the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the subsequent downturn in the UK property market. He also stated that even though the demolition of the Broadway Stand had been completed, they could not secure a loan to even build the Main Stand, let alone the rest of the project. He stated that the work would continue as soon as the economic climate looked a little better.
Because of the problems, the club announced in the summer of 2009 that it was considering moving to a new stadium
in Failsworth
. This has caused some controversy amongst supporters as Failsworth has a Manchester postcode and is not considered by some people as part of Oldham, although it is officially within the borough. It is also only thee miles from the City of Manchester Stadium
and only one mile from the proposed new stadium of FC United of Manchester in Moston. If all had gone according to plan, the new stadium could have been open by the beginning of the 2011/2012 season but clearly this will not now be the case.
After being led to believe by Oldham Council that the Failsworth site was a deliverable option, the club were extemely disappointed when The Charities Commission turned down their application. Oldham Athletic had wasted millions of pounds on drawing up plans, purchasing land and legal fees - and now believe that 'confidence in the current Council's ability to deliver any proposal for a new stadium is at zero.' Oldham Athletic hold the local council almost completely to blame for the current situation regarding the bleak future of professional sport in the town.
On 28th July 2011 the Council offered the club £5.7 million to help with their redevelopment fund of Boundary Park, which would involve redevelopment of the Broadway Stand, time will tell whether the club will accept the Councils offer.
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
of Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
, in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England. It lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with the towns of Royton
Royton
Royton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies by the source of the River Irk, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines, north-northwest of Oldham, south-southeast of Rochdale and northeast of the city of Manchester.Historically a...
and Chadderton
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England, historically a part of Lancashire...
lying immediately north and west respectively, giving rise to the name Boundary Park.
Boundary Park was originally known as Athletic Ground when it was opened in 1896 for Oldham's first professional association football club, Oldham County F.C.. When County folded in 1899, Pine Villa F.C. took over the ground and changed their name to Oldham Athletic. Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is an English association football club based at Boundary Park, on Sheepfoot Lane in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The club currently competes in the Football League One, the third tier of the English league...
have played their home games here since the stadium was opened. Oldham RLFC
Oldham Roughyeds
Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....
left their traditional home, Watersheddings
Watersheddings
Watersheddings is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England.Lying on the A672 approximately 2 miles north east of Oldham town centre it is home to Oldham Cricket Club whose ground situated on Broadbent Road is called "The Pollards"....
, in 1997 and moved to Boundary Park. Apart from the 2002 season when they played at Hurst Cross in Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
, they played there until 2009, when the football club no longer wanted them as tenants.
Overview
Boundary Park at the moment is unique in English professional football as it is the only one that has three stands with one whole side missing. The Lookers Stand on the Broadway side was knocked down as part of a proposed redevelopment (see below). However, the redevelopment was scrapped and Oldham Athletic are no longer working on this project. The hardcore Oldham fans are usually considered to be in the Chadderton Road End (Chaddy End); a traditional, small, one - tiered stand. Opposite that is the Rochdale Road End, where one third of the stand is given to away supporters, and home fans the rest, except when the opposition has a large away following, when the situation is reversed. In these cases, season ticket holders have to be shifted. The main stand that has been there since the stadium was first built, is a small two - tiered structure. Terracing disused since the conversion to an all-seater can still be seen towards the end of this stand.Capacity
The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of 10,638. It became an all-seater venue during the 1994-95 season1994-95 in English football
-Premiership:Blackburn Rovers ended their 81-year wait for the league title thanks to the strike partnership of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton which scored a total of more than 50 league goals. Manchester United would have made it three league titles in a row if they had been able to turn a 1-1 draw...
- the season after Oldham Athletic's relegation from the top flight
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
of English football. In the early days, the stadium could hold nearly 50,000 people. The highest crowd ever recorded at Boundary Park is 47,671, for an FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
tie between Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
in 1930.
"Fantastic in Plastic"
In 1986 the club installed an artificial pitch in order to generate more income for the club and this coincided with the club's upturn in fortunes under manager Joe RoyleJoe Royle
Joseph "Joe" Royle is an English football manager. In his club career, he played for Everton , Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the England national team...
. In 1987, the club reached the play-offs and in 1989/90 the club went through what is regarded as the club's greatest-ever season, reaching the League Cup Final and the semi-final of the FA Cup, and the club claimed major upsets against the likes of Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
and Aston Villa. Critics felt that the pitch gave the club an advantage, but in 1991 Royle responded to this when the Portsmouth manager declared that Oldham couldn't play away, he stuck the article to the dressing room door and the team responded with a 4-1 victory. At the end of the 1990/91 season the club secured promotion to the top flight, the final match on the plastic pitch was probably one of the most memorable games played at the ground when Latics, in order to win the old second division, had to beat Sheffield Wednesday and rely on West Ham
West Ham
West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...
losing. 60 minutes into the game, Wednesday were 2-0 up, but Ian Marshall
Ian Marshall
Ian Paul Marshall is a former professional footballer.-Career:Marshall made his name playing as a defender and striker for Oldham Athletic but started his career as an apprentice with hometown club Everton...
pulled a goal back, then Paul Bernard
Paul Bernard
Paul Bernard was born in London, England on 20 June 1929, and died there on 25 September 1997.He is remembered as a television director, though he was also a designer on television, most notably on productions of The Avengers....
equalised. By this point, West Ham were losing. In time added on, Andy Barlow went down in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. Neil Redfearn
Neil Redfearn
Neil David Redfearn is an English former footballer and manager who is currently under-18s coach and reserve team manager at Leeds United....
stepped up to convert it and a mass pitch invasion followed, as it had been confirmed that West Ham had lost 2-1 to Notts County.
With promotion to the top flight, Oldham Athletic were then forced to have the plastic pitch removed because of league rules. They stayed in the top league for 3 seasons ( 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993-4) before being relegated, and after 3 seasons in the second tier were relegated again in 1997. They have been in the third division, now called League One, ever since.
Records
Boundary Park is anecdotallyAnecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
known as being the coldest ground in the Football League, earning the nickname coined by Joe Royle, Ice Station Zebra. It is also the third-highest stadium, at 155 metres above sea level, of any Premier League or Football League club after The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, Sandwell, England, with a capacity of 26,484. It has been the home of West Bromwich Albion F.C. since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the club. The ground was the last Football League ground to be built in the...
, home of West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
, 168 metres, and Vale Park
Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It is the home ground of Port Vale F.C., who have played at the ground since 1950....
, home of Port Vale F.C.
Port Vale F.C.
Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...
, 160 metres.
Redevelopment
On 15 February 2006, the club unveiled plans for the redevelopment of their current ground. The plans would see every stand other than the Rochdale Road end being redeveloped. When completed it would be a 16,000 seater stadium, estimated to cost £80 million, and with a working name of the "Oldham Arena". However, by the time of the completion of the redevelopment, the stadium would likely have borne a sponsor's name.
On 14 November 2007, Oldham Athletic received planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
for the Broadway stand, whilst Oldham Borough Council
Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 219,600, and spans . The borough is named after its largest town, Oldham, but also includes the outlying towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, the village of...
rejected the further development of the stadium due to local objections regarding the height and size of a proposed block of apartments. On 12 December 2007, after amending the plans, another council meeting gave permission for redevelopment. Facilities would include conferencing and a hotel plus the option of a casino.
Demolition of the Broadway Stand started on 8 May 2008, with the work completed before the start of the new season. The building of the new 'Main Stand' was due to commence in December 2008 and was expected to take 16 months.
On 5 September 2008, Simon Blitz
Simon Blitz
Simon Blitz is an English businessman who is the former chairman of Oldham Athletic of Football League One. He is one of three businessmen who purchased Oldham in 2003, along with Simon Corney and Danny Gazal. On 7 July 2010, he stepped down as chairman of Oldham, along with Gazal, citing personal...
told podcast World Soccer Daily
World Soccer Daily
World Football Daily is a sports radio talk show hosted by Martin Rogers and Sophie Nicolaou. The show broadcasts live on the show's official website, WorldFootballDaily.com, Monday through Friday 9–11 a.m, PST, and is later made available as a podcast...
that although Oldham still planned to continue the development of Boundary Park and surrounding areas, the plans were on hold for now because of the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the subsequent downturn in the UK property market. He also stated that even though the demolition of the Broadway Stand had been completed, they could not secure a loan to even build the Main Stand, let alone the rest of the project. He stated that the work would continue as soon as the economic climate looked a little better.
Because of the problems, the club announced in the summer of 2009 that it was considering moving to a new stadium
The Failsworth Project
The Failsworth Project was the unofficial name for the proposed 12,000 capacity football stadium for Oldham Athletic A.F.C in the town of Failsworth away from Boundary Park, on the site of the Lancaster Club, costing £20 million...
in Failsworth
Failsworth
At Failsworth lies north-northwest of London. It shares common boundaries with Manchester and Oldham, on its west and northeast respectively. Failsworth is traversed by the A62 road, from Manchester to Oldham, the heavy rail line of the Oldham Loop and the Rochdale Canal, which crosses the...
. This has caused some controversy amongst supporters as Failsworth has a Manchester postcode and is not considered by some people as part of Oldham, although it is officially within the borough. It is also only thee miles from the City of Manchester Stadium
City of Manchester Stadium
The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England – also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship purposes– is the home ground of...
and only one mile from the proposed new stadium of FC United of Manchester in Moston. If all had gone according to plan, the new stadium could have been open by the beginning of the 2011/2012 season but clearly this will not now be the case.
After being led to believe by Oldham Council that the Failsworth site was a deliverable option, the club were extemely disappointed when The Charities Commission turned down their application. Oldham Athletic had wasted millions of pounds on drawing up plans, purchasing land and legal fees - and now believe that 'confidence in the current Council's ability to deliver any proposal for a new stadium is at zero.' Oldham Athletic hold the local council almost completely to blame for the current situation regarding the bleak future of professional sport in the town.
On 28th July 2011 the Council offered the club £5.7 million to help with their redevelopment fund of Boundary Park, which would involve redevelopment of the Broadway Stand, time will tell whether the club will accept the Councils offer.
External links
- Boundary Park info from OldhamAthletic.co.uk